The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Queen aud younger members ofthe Royal Family remain at Osborne . His Eoyal Hi ghness the Prince of AVales daily amuses himself with shooting or other athletic exercises . The Princess is rapidly approaching convalescence , and the infant Prince continues in excellent health .

GENERAL HOME NEWS . —According to the return of the Registrar-General , no less than twelve nonogenarians died last week in London . The oldest was a widow , who had attained the age of 97 years . The increase in the mortality during tHe week was very great . The total number of deaths was 2 , 427 . The average of the last ten years , taking into account the increase of population , has been 1 , 559 , so that the deaths last

week were 877 above the average . " These persons , " says the Registrar-General , " were killed almost suddenly by the cold wave of the atmosphere . " The Duke of Cleveland died , at his seat in Durham , on Monday . Another Garter—a highlyeoveted honour—is thus placed at the disposal of Lord Palmerston . The late Duke is succeeded in the peerage by his brother ,

Lord William Vane-Powlett . Dr . Jeune , Master of Pembroke College , Oxford , is gazetted to the Deanery of Lincoln , in the room of the late Jlr . Gamier . No authoritative statement has yet appeared as to Dr . Tm-ton ' s successor in the see of Ely . A meeting of the Shakespeare Memorial Committee was held on Jlonday , the Archbishop of Dublin in the chair , when the

committee appointed at last meeting to prepare an address to the public , reported that in their opinion it wag premature to issue any address till the objects of the committee had taken more shape . They approved , however , of the erection of a monument in which room would be afforded for the talents of the sculptor , the painter , and the architect ; and that the

anniversary of the poet's birthday should , as far as possible , be a holiday over the kingdom . The report was adopted , as also was a recommendation by some members of the committee in their individual capacity , that subscriptions might be opened for the

erection ot a theatre and the providing a management that would admit of Shakespeare ' s plays being acted , as it was notorious none of the present theatres were adapted for the purpose . It was agreed , though not without a sharp struggle , that the sum of £ 30 , 000 should be the sum aimed at as sufficient for the jiroposed monument . The minority were against naming any sum , and thought £ 30 , 000 too

small . The committee afterwards adjourned for a month . A letter has since been published , signed by Messrs . Tom Taylor , Theodore Martin , Shirley Brooks , J . S . Brewer , T . Duffus Hardy , Thomas Walker , Robert Bell , C . L . Gruneisen , and Hain Friswell . The letter announces the retirement of these gentlemen from the National Shakespeare Committee , and

gives the reason for the secession . These reasons form a kind of indictment charging the executive committee with general incapacity and gross blundering . Addressing a meeting of his constituents at Bolton , Sir . Barnes spoke hopefully of the prospect of the cotton trade , and deprecated a wholesale expatriation of the operatives . The lion , gentlemen did not

appear to regret the circumstances that a general election must shortly take place . Iu his opinion , a new Parliament would amount to an " unlocking of the wheels of the State carriage . " A truce had too long existed between the Opposition and the Treasury benches ; and the question of the reduction of the national expenditure and questions " of an ecclesiastical

character , " and questions " hearing upon reform , " had been neglected . AVith regard to the foreign policy of the country , he demanded a course of strict neutrality ; he would neither interfere in the American war , or in the Schleswig-Holsteiu dispute .

A curious paper has been read before the Manchester Geological Society . The author was Mr . Dickinson , one of Her JIajesty ' s inspectors of mines , who appears to have satisfied himself that " the commonly received geological theories" about the formation of the earth are all wrong , and that be has hit upon " a simple view , " which brings Moses and science into harmony . " AVhen the earth was cut into , " said Mr . Dickinson , " there

was a freshness about it which showed that it had seldom been disturbed in pre-historie times , and which refuted the notion that the world was any older than the period assigned by Scripture . " The paper did not meet with a very flattering reception , but the author "knew of old what it was to express sentiments that were contrary to those commonly received as

the fashion of the day . " The "Remarks" ofthe Duke of Cambridge on the Crawley court-martial are published . Colonel Crawley having been " fully and honourably acquitted , " is , of course , ordered to rejoin his regiment , and His Royal Highness trusts that he will " prove by tact and judgment in the performance of his duties * * that the painful experience of

the past has not been lost upon him . " Major Swindley , Surgeon Turnbull , and Lieutenant Fitzsimon are removed from the regiment—Major Swindley for the " animus" he displayed when called as a witness , and Mr . Turnbull and Jlr . Fitzsiuion for " the evasive , hesitating , and unsatisfactory character of their evidence . " The Duke speaks of the " most deplorable" tone and

temper evinced by a portion of the officers of the Inniskillings . " " Bad elements must have been introduced " since the time when he could bear testimony , from a personal and intimate knowledge of the regiment , to its discipline and efficiency ; but he trusts that the steps he has felt himself bound to take will " not be forgotten by those who have escaped censure . " In conclusion , his Royal Highness makes a sort of apology for his recent

strictures upon Sir Hugh Rose s memorandum , so far as it related to Sergeant-Major Lilley . The Duke is still of opinion that Lilley ' s character for sobriety up to the time of his arrest was supported by the evidence before the Court , hut subsequent statements go to " explain" tho grounds on which the Commander-in-Chief in India based his remarks ou the Sergeant-Jlajor's death . Jlr . AVilliam Rumble , principal engineer and

inspector of machinery afloat at Sheerness , will be prosecuted , at the instance of the Government , on a charge of aiding in the equipment and manning of the Confederate steamer Rappahannock , which was some time ago sold out of the Queen ' s service . Jlr . Rumble was taken into custody on Friday , but was subsequently liberated on heavy bail . No proceedings

have as yet been ordered against any of the other officials at Sheerness , nor against the Government pilot who had charge of the Rappahannock when she left the Nore . Jlr . Thomas Highat , a member of the firm of Jlessrs . Jones and Co ., ship chandlers , Liverpool , has been charged before the stipendiary magistrate of that borough , with an offence against

the Foreign Enlistment Act . The summons included Mr . Jones , of the same firm , and John ATOding , a clerk in the employment of Messrs . Jones and Co ., but neither of these persons appeared . The specific charge against Jlr . Highat was that he had been concerned in the enlistment of men for service on hoard the Confederate cruiser Georgia . The witnesses for the

prosecution wore four men who served for a short time on board that ship , but who are now employed at a weekly salavy by a private detective , who seems to be one of the attaches of the United States Consulate at Liverpool . Mr . Highat was bound over in his own recognisances and two sureties to appear to answer any charge which may be preferred against him at the next assizes . Jlr . Bigg , the Sheerness editor , who was recently sent to prison by A'ice-Chaucellor Kindersley for pub-